The 3 Evils Episode II
by Nightmare Dragon1
Summary: Continuation of "The 3 Evils Episode I", with another cliffhanger ending.


The Three Evils  
  
Episode II The Reign of Night  
  
A Note From the Author This story follows up on the first episode, obviously. If you didn't read the first one, do that first. Otherwise, you'll have no idea what's going on here. A second point: I did not create most of these characters. Many of those included in this story are property of Nintendo, Sega, Sonic Team, Rare, etc. In addition, there are other characters from other sources that you will find in one area of the story.  
  
Again, this story can be quite powerful at some times. So, be careful. If you're weak-minded, or can't stand death, do NOT, and I mean DO NOT read this story. If you think you can take it, go ahead. Happy reading! Chapter I Going Home  
  
We were both walking home from our last little escapade when we heard a voice from behind us. We whirled around, seeing a strange figure standing on top of one of the castle walls. He had two spikes on his head, two wrist blades, and short spear-like points on his lower legs. We couldn't tell who he was, but he made a daring move. He said that what we had just completed was a test, a test to see if we were worthy to face him. We were going to ask a few questions, but he jumped way up high and disappeared. So, we started walking back to the Kokiri Forest. Oh, I'm sorry! I forgot to introduce myself! I'm Saria, a Kokiri girl and the Ex-Sage of the Forest. Strangely enough, even though I'm a Kokiri, I still grow up. I still haven't got a clue as to why. You probably already know that I'm about 5 feet 1 inch tall, a little bit under average weight, with blue eyes, and really, really cute. I know that it sounds conceited, but Link thinks so too! He's really a sweet guy, even though he's got a pretty volatile mouth. I really like him. Anyway, we were walking back to the forest, talking about what we were going to do when we got there. Link was just going to go to sleep and think about that weird guy. I couldn't tell him what I really wanted to do, so I told him I would have to run some errands. We were just about to enter the forest when we saw Krystal, the blue fox, right in front of us. "Krystal!" I yelled out to her. "Thank you so much!" "I'm just glad I could help." she said in reply. "Krystal, um...we...kind of...lost your staff..." Link said. "I know." Krystal said with a tone of sadness in her voice. "Still, I have no regrets. This world is safe now. I should probably go now, Fox gets pretty impatient. I told him I was going to pick up some food. He believed me." "Boys are so gullible." I said, eyeing Link as I said it. "If I had my sword, Saria..." Link said jokingly and with a slight smile. "Anyway, I've got to go now. You'll probably never see me again...but then again..." Krystal whistled, then jumped up to a crazy height, and landed on her pterodactyl. They flew off into the distance. Then, they were gone. I was going to miss Krystal. She had really helped us out a lot over the last few days. She had even brought herself face-to-face with death once to save my life. She was really a great girl. "Link, we'd better not stay here." I said. "The sun is setting, and you know what happens when night rolls around." Whenever I was out of the forest, I had to find shelter before nightfall. If I didn't, I would die painfully. "Yeah, you're right. Let's go."  
  
We finally got back to the forest, and we were greeted by two separate groups of Kokiri. One side was happy to see us back alive, and thanking us for saving the world. The other side, apparently led by Mido, was yelling at us for leaving them in a time of need. The noises were so loud that I couldn't stand it. "Shut up!" I screamed. The yelling died instantly. "Thank you. Now, if you don't mind, I haven't slept decently for three days. I'm really on edge right now, and I've still got things to do." The Kokiri stared at me. I was used to it by now. I was weird to them, and so was Link. I walked off with Link toward his house. Then I looked at them all out of the corner of my eye and said violently, "Oh, and...don't torch Link's house or I'll kick the crap out of every last one of you." They all stiffened. Link and I giggled. Link got home, climbed the ladder up to his house, and jumped towards his bed. However, he didn't see the thing on the bed. He had forgotten about the Kokiri Sword he had left there. I had one choice. I concentrated every last bit of energy I had left into holding Link in the air. It was really quite hard. I moved him over a clean area on the floor and dropped him. "Oops...sorry, Link." I said sarcastically. "That's fine..." Link said in reply. "I can't believe you're still saving my life. By the way, now that the dragon's dead, could you tell me what your big secret is? It's really bugging me." I was silent for a moment. I knew that Link was worried about me, and I had promised to be honest with him. I would trust Link with my life, and I had done so several times. The one thing I worried about, though, was if he could handle it. "Link...are you sure you want to hear this?" I said. "Why else would I ask?" "Alright, Link, but I'll warn you. This is a really frightening story."  
  
"It was actually the time before I had fought the dragon the first time. I had gone out to Death Mountain to practice my arrow-shooting skills when an old man appeared out of nowhere. He asked me, 'Do you wish to become skillful in the sword?' I answered that I did, and he raised his eyes to meet mine. They were not human. His eyes glowed red like hot embers. He was some strange, unknown creature. He tore off his cloak and I was horrified. The creature had no skin whatsoever. His organs were visible, his heart beating, and they were all covered in blood. His face was the most horrible sight. His head was a skull, cracked open in many places, his brain visible through the cracks." "I had heard of this creature. He was called the Ultimate ReDead. All I had was arrows at the time, and I knew they would be no good. Then, a strange bird dropped a sword in front of me. I picked it up and something very strange happened to me that I still cannot figure out. The sword fused with my arm, and my right hand became a blade. I looked at it, open-mouthed, and decided this was a good time to try it. I ran at the demon, my sword arm held high. I slashed at his head, but the skull took the blow. I attacked continuously at his various body parts, but he just stood there. Then, I thrust the blade out, directly at his visible brain. The demon blocked it with his hand. We dueled long and hard. I knew that I had only one choice. I had to get behind him and stab his brain out. He attacked, and I parried the blow, spinning around to his backside. I threw my blade hand forward, stabbing his rotting brain. He froze in the strangest position. I pulled my now bloody hand out of the monster's head. He fell to his knees, then fell flat on the ground. My hand returned to normal, but it was still bloody." "Then, the same strange figure we just saw on the castle wall appeared and congratulated me on a great fight. He said, 'You are indeed skilled, Saria. Take this sword I have here. Train yourself well, because your skills will be tested when the time is right. If you complete these tests successfully, you may yet meet me face to face. When you do, you'd better be ready for it."  
  
I was silent after that. Just speaking of my deepest fear had been nearly too much. I felt weak from recalling the one time I had needlessly killed something. "Saria," Link said sadly, "I never knew that you had that kind of an experience before..." "I've kept it from everyone until now. You and I are the only ones who know now. Please keep this a secret. I know you will." "I promise." Link said to me. He grabbed my hands affectionately, and I could tell he was sincere. He let go after about half a minute. "Good night, Link." I said, giving him a little kiss on the cheek. "See you in the morning, Saria." Chapter II When Night Falls  
  
The next morning, I woke up early, so it was still a little dark. Link usually got up early too, so I had to be quiet. Like I said, I had to go on a personal mission. I took a walk through the Lost Woods to the Sacred Forest Meadow. I usually go there when I need to be alone. I hiked up to my little tree stump by the Forest Temple, sat down, and started playing my ocarina. At first, I just whistled out a few notes, then I played my favorite song. It helped me relax quite a bit. That was just what I needed to clear my mind. I concentrated hard on the Sacred Realm. I hadn't been there in about four years. Eventually I built up enough mental power to teleport myself there. When I got to the Realm, I called for Rauru. He came almost instantly. He was always the wisest of the Sages, but he always spoke in poem-riddles. "Rauru," I said, "who is this strange figure that keeps appearing to me? I've seen him twice now. What does it mean?" Here's how "Dr. Riddle" answered me:  
  
The one who appears to you, Is the messenger of not one or two. The three he serves, their slave is he And yet he also is their master.  
  
I was absolutely baffled by this. Usually I could figure his riddles out in a minute, but this one was different. I had no clue as to what he meant. I thanked him and left. I returned to the Sacred Forest Meadow and sat on the little stump. I thought about the riddle I had just heard. How could someone be a slave and a master? It didn't seem possible. I stayed for about five minutes, but then I heard a voice. "Well, I guess it wasn't just an errand." I whirled around, and there stood Link. He didn't seem too happy. "Link!" I exclaimed. "What...what are you doing here, Link?" "I was worried." "Well, I guess as long as you're here, I should tell you what I found out." I repeated the poem Rauru had told me, and Link had the same clueless expression. But, that wasn't exactly uncommon for him. "Any ideas?" I asked him. "Nope. I'm drawing a total blank right now." "Let's get back to the forest before it gets light."  
  
We trekked our way slowly back to the forest. We took the long way so that we could think about the riddle I had heard. When we got back to the forest, we still hadn't gotten any closer to the answer. We both went to my house and I made some breakfast for us. We sat down at the table and realized it was still dark. I looked at the clock, which was operated entirely by natural means. "Link, look at this!" I yelled to him. "It's already 9:30! Why is it still dark?" "This has to have something to do with that guy we saw yesterday! Let's go, Saria!" "Link, I can't go out in the dark! What are we going to do?" I was depressed that I couldn't go with him to stop whatever it was. There had to be a way for me to go. "Link, give me your hand." I said. "I've got an idea." I took Link's hand and concentrated on the sky. "Link, concentrate on the time of day it's brightest!" I concentrated on the sky and everything in it. I felt our energies fusing, then shooting upward. The darkness over Hyrule split. Daylight broke the night. "Let's go Link! This will only last for a few hours!" We left the forest in a hurry, heading for the castle. Just after we got into it, the darkness took over again as far as the eye could see. "Looks like we made it just in time." I said, thinking of what would have happened if we hadn't. I stared out at the night, saddened by the thought that I might have to live in fear of it forever. We went to Princess Zelda. She was in her room, staring out the window glumly. She wasn't wearing the usual pink and white dress, but a gloomy black gown. "Hello, Link. Hi, Saria." she said, turning around. "Hey Zelda." I said. "Any idea what's going on around here?" She was silent for a few moments. I could tell easily that she was deeply troubled by something. "I have concluded that our foe, whoever he is, is somehow summoning ancient monsters from the very heart of the Dark World." "What?!" Link exclaimed. "We saw that Magmentia creep destroy the place! How could anyone be alive in there?" "I fear...that it is not someone, but something. There is an old prophecy about this situation. There were three ancient evil Sages: Darkness, Destruction, and Death. They ruled over the world for a short time, using fear as their weapon. In short, they were banished, but they left traces of themselves behind, and swore that they would corrupt one to resurrect them, greater than ever. I fear that the time has come. You fought a dragon, did you not?" "That's right." I said. "Then that must have been the Sage of Destruction. We were lucky to fight and defeat him just after resurrection. This eternal night must be the work of the Sage of Darkness. He will be the hardest of the three to find, because he hides in shadows. However, if you do find him, he will most likely be in the form of a vampire." "V-v-vampire?" Link stuttered. "You...you didn't...just...say vampire...did you?" "I did. You've got to track him down and defeat him before it's too late. Eventually, all the plants will die, and after that, there's no hope left for anything. Everything will die." Link was still paralyzed with fear. Ever since his run-in with a fake vampire when he was five, he'd been terrified of them. I giggled a bit from the thought. "Alright Zelda, we'll go and find him," I said. "What's his name, just for reference?" "His name is yet unrevealed," Zelda said. "In English, please?" Link said. "She said she doesn't know," I said. "Oh."  
  
We left after casting another Light spell. We went to Kakariko Village, where we could find the master potion maker, Bruno. We walked through the potion shop into the back. After passing under a dark purple curtain, we emerged into a room with only two unnatural flames to light it. Bruno was in deep meditation, but slowly came back to reality. "Saria...Link...How are you?" he said slowly. His voice was quite soothing. Link stepped forward. "Nice to see you too, Bruno. But, we're in such a serious situation, so..." Bruno held out a strange jar to Link. It seemed to radiate with light. "Is this not what you want, my friend? It will cast perpetual light upon its holder. Do you not need light to survive?" he asked me. "Y-yes, but...how did you know what we came for?" I asked him. "I have many sources." Link and I asked no more questions after that. We thanked him, bowed, and left. Chapter III A New Ally  
  
Link and I walked back to the forest, the light potion in my pocket. I couldn't believe it. Now I could go out at night! I was so ecstatic that I was nearly skipping. "Even after four years," Link said, "That guy still manages to give me the creeps." "You know what I just realized?" I said. "He knew my name. How is that? I mean, I've never met him before. Or...have I?" "Saria, you're confusing me here. I don't know how he knows your name, but he's a good guy." "Whatever you say, Link..." When we got back to the forest, we both went to my house to talk about the problem at hand. We talked about it late into the real night, and Link returned to his house to get some rest. I figured that I'd better get some sleep too. That night, I had the strangest dream. I was on a planet, green, full of growing things. It was thriving with flowers and animals. Then, time passed in the blink of an eye. The world became horrifically polluted. Sentry robots stormed the land, and I was transported into a strange underground world. There, there was a variety of sentient animals. I couldn't see them because my dream wasn't exactly clear. Then, the robots stormed in. They trashed the place and captured all but two of the inhabitants. Those two returned to the surface, and I unconsciously followed. One of them, apparently the older, went over to a pond, reached in, and pulled out a strange metallic hoop. He seemed to call the younger one "Tails." He gave "Tails" the hoop, and the younger being became much more powerful. Even though it was a dream, I felt his life force soaring. Then, he took a running start and jumped right out into space. I saw an amazing sight. He was headed directly for my home planet. What's more, he was on a collision course for Hyrule! I woke up suddenly, somewhat frightened by this uncanny dream. I went over to Link's house, only to find him gone. I walked over to the forest's edge, and, sure enough, he was there. He had his Kokiri Sword with him. "Saria..." he said, "He's coming." "Who's he?" I asked him. "You know who." Just then, a streak of light flew down toward about where Lon Lon Ranch was. It was moving just under the speed of light. It collided with an exceptionally loud bang. "He's here. Let's move!" Link said. We left for the ranch hastily. I had no idea what was going on. It took us about an hour to get there. Strangely, there were no Stalfos on the way. When we got there, all the inhabitants of the ranch were gathered around a giant fissure in the ground. We ran over to them and asked what was going on. "Some kind of alien, I think. Heard about them from m'pals over at Romanai Ranch. Come to steal my cows, they have!" "I don't think so." Link said. "Saria, do you still have that hookshot?" "Yeah, why?" "Give me the hook, then lower yourself down into the hole. You're the only one who can do this." "The only one who can do what?" "You'll see when you get down there." I lowered myself down, and when I reached the bottom, I found a young fox. He looked about fourteen or fifteen years old, about my age. He was a light shade of brown, and his tail was tipped with white. The only thing he had was a backpack. He was unconscious. "Hey," I called to him. "Hey, are you alright?" He slowly came to. He tried to raise himself up and eventually succeeded. He looked at me, and I looked at him. "Who...who are you?" I asked him. "Me?" he asked. "I'm Miles Prower, but everyone always calls me Tails. "Why is that?" I asked him curiously. He turned around and motioned toward his tail. I correct myself now. He motioned to his tails. He had not one, but two tails. I was amazed. Then I realized I was standing on top of the hoop I had seen in my dream. "Hey, um, Tails," I said, "you need this?" "Yeah, it's really important to me." He replied. "It's called a Super Ring. It holds all the power of the Chaos Emeralds, which control the forces of nature on my planet." I gave him a confused stare. "It's really not important right now. All you need to know is that it increases your "life force," whatever that is. If you want to know more about it, you should ask Sonic." "Who?" "Oh yeah, I forgot. Never mind, it's not an interplanetary thing. Sonic's a really good friend of mine. He told me to find a girl with green hair and...hey, it's you!" "How the hell does everyone know me?" I said out loud to no one in particular. "I don't know, but he gave me this before I left." Tails gave me a little communication device. I switched it on and the figure of a blue hedgehog appeared. "Huh? Who's that..." he said, confused. "Tails? Is that you?" "Yeah, Sonic, it's me! I made it!" Tails said in back of me. "Great! I was worried for a while. So, this must be the Second Hero here, huh?" he said, referring to me. "What?" I said. Why was it that everyone knew more about me than I did? "You'll find out in time. For now, you need to know about that ring Tails has. The Power Rings here have very special powers. When you hold the ring in your hand and concentrate on your inner strength, it will give your life force a temporary boost. You'll have to figure out the rest on your own. Everyone is different. This is going to help you. Give it a shot right now. I've got to go. The robotic dipsticks are back. Later!" Sonic signed off. Tails handed me one side of the ring, and kept the other side in his hand. I concentrated on the power of nature, because that was my gift. I pulled the energy from deep within myself and let it flow outward. I felt my own spirit's force growing. I could feel Tails' power growing as well. I finally unleashed all the energy stored up. Suddenly everything on me that was green turned a rainbow of colors. "Cool." I said, pulling out a mirror and admiring my multicolored hair. I quickly flipped it back into a pair of downward-pointed spikes. "Definitely nice." said Tails. Every second or so, he would glow brighter, then dimmer, then brighter again. There were four birds around his head, seemingly ready for battle. They looked pissed. Really pissed. "Come on, um...what's your name?" asked Tails. "My name is Saria." "Alright, Saria, grab my hands and I'll fly us out of here." "Okay..." I was skeptical. He soon revealed his plan to me. He twisted his tails up tight, then released them upward. They spun like helicopter blades! "These are more than decorations!" he said as we ascended. We finally reached the top of the pit. "Hey, Saria..." Link asked, "What happened to your hair?" "Tails, that's your cue." Tails explained everything to Link. Then he mentioned one more thing. "The only drawback is that you've only got fifty seconds to work with, and it can only be used once a day. Ours should be wearing off about...now." My hair returned to its normal green color and the spikes went away, Tails stopped flashing, and the birds left. "Anything else I should know?" I asked him sarcastically.  
  
Later on, we were walking through Hyrule Field for a good night's sleep when we were attacked by Stalfos. "Wh-what are those things?" Tails asked fearfully. "Stalfos. We can't beat them with just physical weapons. Tails, give Link that ring." He gave it to Link, and Link concentrated on his combat skills. He released the energy, and his sword began to glow a bright yellow. His clothes turned bright yellow as well. He whipped out his sword, jumped up inhumanly high, and came down in a powerful swordspin attack. He killed off all three Stalfos with one slash. "Amazing." said Tails, in awe. "I've never seen anyone unleash so much power." "We can talk tomorrow morning. They'll be back if we stay here." We ran the rest of the way to the forest. Tails and I went to my house, and Link went to his. I let Tails sleep on my bed, because he looked so tired from his million-mile trip. I slept peacefully on the floor, wondering what tomorrow would hold for us. Chapter IV With Great Power...  
  
I woke up a little earlier than normal again, seeing the darkness outside again. I noticed that Tails had left the room. I looked for him all over the house, but I couldn't find him. I finally looked outside in the backyard, and I found him sitting on his tails, performing some strange meditation. Above him, the Super Ring was floating like a giant halo. For some reason, it didn't surprise me a bit. This kid was absolutely full of tricks! "Hi Saria." he said without moving. I jumped. "Oh, hi Tails." I said in return. "Could I ask what you're doing?" "Yes," he said, "I'm doing a Light Ritual right now, but I can't seem to get it right on this planet. I forgot that the Emeralds don't control nature here." He came out of his trance and caught the ring. "What does, anyway?" "That's a long story." I said to him. "There are seven very special people, called Sages, who each control one aspect of nature." "What?! Are you saying that people rule over the world? How did that happen? Back on Earth we hate people who try to take over the world..." "Well, in a way, we do control the world. But, we were all handpicked by the three goddesses, Din, Farore, and Nayru. They're the ones that actually control what happens. We're just kind of mediums." "I see." he said. "Anyway, who controls the day and night? I need to talk to whoever it is." "That would be Rauru, the Sage of Light." I told him. I hoped he wasn't too confused. "Could you get him to come here? It's really important." "I don't know...He's never been in the real world before." "Then take me there. I'll talk to him." So I took Tails to the Sacred Realm to see Rauru. When we got there, Tails took a good look around. "This seems...familiar..." he said wonderingly. "Seven placeholders...could it be...?" "Could it be what?" "Never mind." he said. "I'm thinking too much." I giggled, but I saw that he was serious. Just then, Rauru appeared. I bowed and told Tails to do the same. I saw that he was absorbed in the colors of the Sages' spaces. "It's not possible..." he said mysteriously. "It can't be..." "What's not possible?" I asked him. I assumed that it had something to do with his home planet. I was right. "These colors..." he said, still staring. "They're exactly the same as those of...the Chaos Emeralds!" "You're bullshitting me! No way!" "No, I'm serious. Look. Green, blue, red, yellow, purple, and white! The light blue was destroyed, but we found the orange one later on!" "Wait...white?" I said. I had never seen a white panel anywhere before. "Yeah, right in the middle." I looked at the panel, and it all fell into place. It had a clock on it. "This, Tails," I said slowly, "is Link's panel. He is the Sage of Time, the very heart of nature itself. And I...I'm the Sage of the Forest. Or, at least I was." "No way!" he said, surprised. "I can't believe I'm hanging out with two sevenths of nature!" "Believe it, Tails. Link and I have always stayed together since I took him in." "But, still I wonder...Do the Emeralds have the same kind of split power that you've got? Wait...is that...that can't be...possible..." He was staring at the next floating platform over. I had never been there, because I was told a guardian protected it. "That's what we call the Forbidden Island." I told Tails. "And that's what I call Hidden Palace. And, if I'm right, we'll find a friend there." Tails flew me over to the island, and we landed right at the entrance. A voice boomed from nowhere. "Who dares come to the Hidden Palace?!" it said. I shook, but Tails smiled, seeming to recognize the voice. "It's Tails! What do you think you're doing, scaring Saria like that?" From above, another voice came. It sounded like about a nineteen-year- old male voice. "Tails? Is it really you?" The source of the voice was soon revealed. From above, a red echidna dropped down. "Saria, this is Knuckles, protector of the Chaos Emeralds. Knuckles, this is Saria, the Forest Sage of Hyrule." I extended my hand to shake his. He did likewise, and we did shake, but I noticed that on his hands were two spikes. He noticed that I was staring at them. "Don't worry about that, um...Saria, was it?" Knuckles said to me. "I'm not him." "That's good to know. But, how do you know about him?" "I saw him once, then did some research on it. I only found out that he is a universal Evil, the very core of darkness. There is no more information on him anywhere." "Knuckles," Tails said, "could you take us to the Emeralds? I need to try an experiment." "Sure, little buddy." Knuckles said, ruffling Tails' fur on his head. Even so, it sprung right back into the three short spikes extending forward. Knuckles led us down a long hallway and into a large cave chamber. There were seven places, each holding a shining gem of a different color, except one. In the center, high up, was a giant green emerald. "That," Tails said, "is the Master Emerald. If it's ever taken away, the entire universe will be thrown out of balance. And, if my theory is right, there is one Master Sage in your world." "There is, now that you mention it..." I replied. "Princess Zelda once told me that she was like me. That she was...powerful beyond my imagination." "That must be her." Knuckles said. "She's the one who is destined to balance the universe." I was confused, and Knuckles sensed it. "You don't have to understand now. Just make sure nothing happens to Zelda. She holds the fate of every world in her hands." "Knuckles, I need to test something." Tails said. "Saria, hop your way up to that smaller green emerald there." I did, and when I got up there, strange power flowed through me. "Tails, what's happening to me? I feel strange!" "I knew it! Your spirit and the Emerald's spirit are combining!" "This rock has a spirit?!" Suddenly, the gem stopped glowing. I felt my own life force soaring. "I don't believe how much power I feel...What kind of power does this thing have?" "It's just as I thought. The powers of nature were split into seven pieces, then each of those was split again, creating fourteen spirits. Two were created to rule over them, one to each set of seven. Therefore, when all the powers of nature are combined and their masters over them, the universe will be brought into balance!" Just then, as I was about to speak, the mysterious figure dropped down on top of the Master Emerald. "Thanks for telling me." he said. "I'll make sure it doesn't happen!" He grabbed the huge gem and pulled it out of its resting place. He disappeared again. "Damn it!" Knuckles exclaimed, pounding his fists into the wall. "Not again! Ah, crap, I'm stuck..." "We have no time to waste! I know where he went!"  
  
We all went back to the Kokiri Forest and woke up Link. I explained everything to him, then we left immediately for the Dark World. We went through the portal by the Forest Temple. We quickly went into the Dark Realm and found it entirely decimated. It was the same wasteland we had left last time. It was easy to see the dark figure because of the barrenness. "Tails! Super Ring! Now!" I yelled. He whipped it out and gave it to me, and I cranked up my life force. I started running at jet speed towards the figure, my rainbow hair flying behind me. I quickly caught him. I was within ten feet of him, and we both stopped. He didn't seem poised to attack, and he placed the emerald in front of me. He got ready to leave, but I stopped him. I had a few questions. "You've earned yourself...oh, we'll say...two answers." he said to me. "Fine." I said. "First, who are you? And I want a full answer, not just your name!" "I am known as Slash," he said, stepping out of the shadow that mysteriously followed him. I could see his full figure now. His head was human, and on it were two iron spikes, sharp as swords. His face was hard, his glare cold as stone. His eyes were an eerie shade of red. His body was covered in a red metallic suit. The arm coverings, also made of metal, were dark blue. On his wrists were two protruding sword-like blades. His hands were revealed as being human, but his legs were covered in purple armor. His lower leg armor was covered by short spear-like thorns. "My real name, however, is Sparkius, and I am the Master of Evil. I control all Evil in the universe, as your friend told you, but they also control me." "Fair enough," I said. "Secondly, what does that mean?" "This means," he said, "that Evil controls my every move, but I am also the one who releases it." "Thank you." I said. "I understand now." "I'll let you live with this information..." he said. "For now..." Chapter IV Chaos Seekers  
  
I picked up the Master Emerald after I returned to normal. Everyone came over to see if I was okay. I told them I was, and then told them what I had learned. "That figure," I began, "is called by the name of Slash. His real name is Sparkius, though I don't know why. He told me also that his actions are controlled by Evil, but he also releases it on the world. I still don't understand all of it." "He's definitely a confusing person." Knuckles said. "But, wait." I interrupted. "Suddenly, I'm not so sure...if he is a person!" "What do you mean, Saria?" Tails asked me, cocking his head to one side. "I mean that he had full armor which was multicolored, and his spikes just...I mean, I felt some foreign type of life force from the spikes. I think he's definitely not human." "Then what could he be?" Link asked me. "I don't know, Link." I said. "I just don't know."  
  
We all went back to the Hidden Palace. There, we found a horrible sight. All of the emeralds were there, but they were no longer shining. They were surrounded by a dark force field, their energy sucked out of them. All but the formerly green one were dark. "No!" Knuckles cried out. "I don't believe this! He's corrupted the very life force of the Emeralds! What creature could have such power?!" Tails had been silent since I told him of my suspicions. He was now staring at his feet, as though he didn't want us to know something. "Tails?" I said comfortingly. "Do you want to tell us something?" "No," he said, "I don't want to, but I've got no choice. One time, while I was still about eight, I followed Sonic out into the Lava Reef on Angel Island. He told me not to, but I snuck along behind him. I got lost because I wasn't able to keep up with him. I walked along for a few hours, but the tunnels just kept getting darker and darker. Eventually, I came out into a room full of blazing light. I shielded my eyes from the light, but when I was able to see, the light was coming from a boiling lake of lava. There seemed to be air bubbles in the middle. I walked up to the edge of it and peered in. Then, the ground shook underneath my feet. I backed up, and out of the lava rose a very evil-looking creature. It was a horrifying sight. The creature was a giant dragon, but its skin was melted off. It was hanging off the bones. It had claws like razors. It roared, screeching terribly. Then it blew an inferno out of its mouth, directly at me. A yellow blaze luckily flew past and blocked the blast. I couldn't see who or what it was, but the figure used some type of magic on the dragon. The evil creature was changed into a shape, like a human. But, I could tell that it wasn't. It instantly disappeared. I walked back out to the entrance, and met Sonic. We left, and he seemed to know something had happened." "So, Tails," I said, "You think that Sparkius is really a dragon? I guess that kind of explains his name." "Yeah, but...the thing is, I've been so afraid of ever meeting him again..." "Don't worry about it, Tails." I said, trying to comfort him. "Even if we do, we'll all be right here. But, still, what would he want with the Emeralds?" "I think," Knuckles said, "that he intends to combine the forces of nature and bend them to his own will." "But, that means his next target is..." I said sadly. "The Chamber of Sages!" Link shouted, starting to run for the exit. All of us but Knuckles ran after him, and eventually made our way over to the Chamber of the Sages. We found all but one of them lying on the ground, drained of their energy. Ruto, the Water Sage and princess of the Zoras, was standing there, waiting for us. She looked terrified. "Ruto! What happened?" I asked her. "I...I don't know. When I came here, they were all on the floor like this..." Her voice shook with every syllable, but her mood lightened when she saw Link. "Link! So, when are you going to get me a ring?" "Ruto, listen to me." he said, annoyed. "I've told you a thousand times. I can't marry someone outside my own species. And anyway, I only love one person. She's standing here right next to me." He put his arm around me. I was very tempted to stick out my tongue at Ruto, but I held it back. "Whatever you say, Link." she said. I could tell that she hadn't understood anything just said to her. "Ruto, I hate to say this," Link began, "but we...we need your help." "Goody! I get to come along with Link, Saria, and the fox-boy." "My name is Tails, fish girl!" Tails said threateningly. "Watch your mouth, you air-breather! You're in my world now!" "Oh, that's it! Your ass is going down!" Tails was really pissed off. He whacked Ruto upside the head with the ring, knocking her off balance. "Tails!" I shouted. "Let's not do something worse that we might regret later on, alright?" Tails relaxed a little. "Fine," he said. "But next time I see you, Ruto...you'd better watch out." Ruto was silent. I could tell she was feeling a little fearful of her newfound enemy. I knew that Tails would never actually kill her normally, but I don't know about him when he has all that power...I gave him the benefit of the doubt and forgot about it. We went out to find Sparkius and the Emeralds. We quickly found his trail. I could sense where powerful evil had once been, so we tracked him...to Hyrule Castle. "Not Zelda..." I said in a whisper. "He's not really going to..." "Yes, he is." Tails said. "This guy is a ruthless jerk. He'll stop at nothing to accomplish something."  
  
We went straight to Zelda's room. Unfortunately, she wasn't there. I got a little panicky. Nobody had any idea where she was. Then, Link had a great idea. "I think I know where she is," he said. "Come with me!" Link led us down into the deepest regions of the dungeons. We went into a normal-looking cell. "Link, there's nobody here!" Tails said. "Why did you bring us here?" "Just watch and learn, kid!" Link pushed in the seventh stone from the left on the east wall in the fifteenth row. On the south wall, a secret wall opened up, revealing a reinforced cell. Light flooded out from it, revealing two figures. One was Zelda, sitting in a chair, bound and gagged. The other figure was... "Sparkius!" Link called out. Sparkius whipped his head around and saw us. Then, he said in a sarcastic mannerly tone, "Please, call me Slash!" With that, he lunged at us, arm blades raised. Tails raised up the Super Ring and blocked the blow. I picked up a rock on the ground and hurled it at Slash's face. It hit him square in the forehead, and he stumbled backwards. Link ran to Zelda and untied her. "Saria, move!" she called out to me as soon as she could talk. I quickly rolled to the right. Right where I had been standing, Slash came down with his arm spikes right where my head was. They pierced the ground like butter. Tails brought both of his tails down powerfully on top of his head. He collapsed under the attack, and we ran like mad. We escaped the castle and ran right to Kakariko Village. We knew Slash wouldn't be far behind. We went to the only man who could help us. His name was Innartius, the master of ancient lore. "What is it you desire, my friends?" he asked. "Do you wish knowledge? Possibly weapons?" "We need to know about an ancient being," I said. "Do you know anything about the one named Sparkius?" Innartius gasped. "I have not heard that name in many years. It has been long since I spoke of this legend. It is frightening...Do you still wish to hear it?" "Is everyone sure?" I asked them. "You bet!" Link said. "If Link goes, so do I!" said Ruto. "Of course!" Zelda exclaimed. Tails was silent for a moment, but then I saw confidence build in his eyes. It built up so that it was nearly rage. A blaze now burned in his eyes. "Let's do it, guys!" Chapter V The Mystery of Legend  
  
This legend happened long ago. There were three evils, the Sage of Darkness, the Sage of Destruction, and the Sage of Death. They were expert conjurers of demons, the Destruction Dragons, the Darkness Vampires, and the Death Reapers. These demons were only called one at a time, but if a full set ever walked the world, it would certainly be destroyed. They were mostly slain as they were created, so for a time the world remained safe. Then, the Light Sages went after the Dark Sages. The Light defeated the Dark, and they were banished. But, they gathered all their strength and sacrificed themselves to call all three demons. They all were stuck in the Dark Realm, though. Sadly, one of them escaped thirty years later. It was Sparkius, the Destruction Dragon. He made his way to a realm called the Lava Reef on Angel Island. He remained there in his dragon form for three thousand years. He was then changed into a very strange creature, his current form, and to this day nobody knows how it was done. His form now is that of the rare and deadly Spikerand species. His viciousness has doubled, and his speed has been greatly boosted. However, his destructive force was crushed, and he was no longer immortal. He still has powerful attacks, unfortunately. Thus, he is trying to free the other two monsters, so that they can take over the world...  
  
Everyone was silent for a minute or so. I felt like I had just been slapped in the face by the hand of reality. I sensed fear all over the room, but much of it came from Tails. I went over to him and put my hand on his shoulder. He still said nothing, but he relaxed a little. I built up the courage to speak. "So, how do we bust this guy up, Innartius?" I asked him. "I mean, we need to find a weak point to kill him, right?" "It is not that simple. You must destroy all three demons at the same time. But, first, you must kill all three Dark Sages. Only then will the demons' weaknesses be revealed." "Then what are we waiting for?" I asked everyone. "Let's get moving! Tails, give me the ring. Everyone grab hold of it and channel your energy into it." They did as I told them, and the ring began to glow. I transferred almost all of my energy into it as well, and the ring's center revealed the inside of the Fire Temple. "Everyone hold onto the ring, then flip yourselves through the center!" We all flipped in in turns. First went Zelda, then Link. Tails hesitated. He still had one question for me. "How do you know so much about this ring?" he asked me. "Tails, even I can't answer that. Now, go! I'll be there in a few minutes." He jumped through. I jumped through soon after he did. When we came out, it was blazing hot. The ring didn't come with, but a portal was left behind. We all stared in front of us. There was a giant door there with two symbols on it. They were the seals of the Forest and the seal of Time. I went up to the door and the Forest seal glowed. "Come on, Link, I need you to come over here." I said. He walked over, but the seal didn't glow. "What's up with that?" he asked. "Wait, I absorbed the green emerald's power," I said. "Maybe you need to absorb the white emerald's power! But...I don't know where it is..." "I do." Tails said. Everyone looked at him, even me. "Where is it, Tails? How do you know?" I asked. "It's actually right in this room." he said mysteriously. "Tails, are you saying..." I began. I started to giggle. "Yep. I've got it." He opened up his backpack and pulled out the white emerald. "Tails, I've said it before, I'll say it again," I said. "You're full of surprises." Link took the emerald and absorbed its power. The Time seal glowed, and the door opened. Inside was a giant portal to the Dark World. I saw inside it a horrific sight. There was Slash, releasing the other two demons, currently shapeless. They flew out of the portal and towards the portal we had made earlier. We chased them for a while. They went to Gerudo Valley, and we pursued them with help from the ring. There, they entered the Spirit Temple on the other side of the desert. They opened another portal, but this time there were two other creatures inside. One was a vampire, and the other was in the shape of the Grim Reaper. The demons disappeared. This was it. The final two Dark Sages were released. They were now poised to strike. We readied our defenses and prepared to be attacked. Both sides charged at each other. Chapter VI Face-off With Darkness  
  
On some planet, very far away, three strange figures stood on a bridge over lava. One was tall, with a sword, and the other two were short and not too bright. "Hey, we're going to be the new narrators, m'kay?" one said. "Like, hehe, yeah, narrators, yeah." Then, a short creature, looking human, came over the bridge carrying a ring. The tall one with the sword, being the guardian, stopped him. When he would not state a reason, the one with the sword stabbed him. Another, looking similar, came after him, and the sword guy tripped him. He fell into the lava. "Hey, what's this sharp thing?" one of the stupid guys said, picking up a sword. "Like, hehe, gimme that, yeah." said the other, grabbing for it. The one with the sword accidentally stabbed the other. "Like, what did you do that for, man, yeah, hehe?" "Well, sorry dude." "Yeah, yeah, hehe, whatever!" "I said sorry!" "Like, sorry's not, hehe, enough!" He kicked the other right off the bridge. "Have a nice swin in, like, the chili, yeah. Wait, like, I like chili too, hehe." He jumped off the bridge into the lava, which he thought was chili...  
  
AHEM! Excuse me, I believe this is my story. I'm Saria, and this story is about me! Sorry about that, readers. I don't know where that came from...  
  
Anyway, as I was saying, we were ready to face off against the two remaining Dark Sages. They were in the forms of a vampire and the Grim Reaper. "How do we take these guys out?" I asked out loud. "I mean, what's their weakness?" "I'll bet," Link said, "that we need to blow up their hearts like we did to that dragon!" We had no more time to think. The vampire struck with his fangs, repeatedly, and the Reaper slashed about with his scythe. Tails luckily stopped the Reaper, and drove him back to the portal. He closed it up. "Tails, you got any ideas about the vampire?" I asked. "No, Saria!" he yelled. "I really haven't had the time to think of one!" Ruto, who was still with us, was hiding behind Link, telling him to do something. He did. Link went straight for the vampire's head and cut it off. "Yes!" he yelled. But, the head re-grew. It was absolutely grotesque. He slashed with sharp nails at Link. Ruto became angry, and then charged the vampire with a sharp Deku stick she found on the ground. She impaled the vampire through the chest. He screamed, spurting blood all over. Ruto pulled out the stick. Then, the vampire, being the Sage of Darkness, charged his ultimate attack. I saw what he was doing and jumped in front of him. "Saria, what are you doing?!" Link screamed at me. "Just watch." I told him. A sly grin spread across my face. Just as the vampire began to fire his attack, I stuck out my hand, palm toward him. I saw the night-black beam coming at me, and I focused on the emerald's power. I fired a beam of light directly back at him. My hair blew back because of the powerful wind generated from the attack. The two beams clashed and neutralized each other, but we both kept a steady stream. He was pushing on his harder and harder, and I saw it creeping closer. Link came up behind me and added his energy, but it still wasn't enough. "Tails! Help!" I called. He came over in a flash. Link pulled out his sword and aimed at the vampire. "Saria, grab the sword!" he said. I thought he was crazy, but I rolled out of the way of the beam and grabbed the sword. "Tails! Ruto, Zelda, you guys too!" Link yelled as the vampire was still recovering from his attack. They all came over and grabbed the sword. "Tails, slip the ring onto the sword!" He did, and I felt the power of the sword grow. Link fired a beam from the sword, but the vampire countered again. "We'll never win at this rate!" Link yelled. I channeled even more of my power into the sword. The beam turned a great amount of colors. The colors were these: green, brown, blue, purple, and silver. They represented, I believe, me, Tails, Ruto, Zelda, and Link, respectively. Even though we had the beam at full power, the vampire was too strong. Then, I saw red added to the beam. Knuckles had come to help. "I couldn't let Tails do this alone!" he yelled over the roaring beams. "Knuckles, I'm not seven years old anymore!" Tails called out. "I can take care of myself!" Then, I saw a hint of a deeper blue in the beam spectrum. It was none other than Sonic. "Sonic! You made it!" "I thought you might need some help here. Guess I was right!" he said. I threw even more of my energy into the sword. It still wasn't enough. I sacrificed every ounce of stamina left in myself to power up the beam. The beam pushed toward the vampire and blasted him away, vaporizing him at the same time. I fainted, and the last thing I saw was the darkness over Hyrule lifting. Chapter VII The Message  
  
While I was unconscious, I had a very strange dream. Now that I think about it, maybe it wasn't a dream. Still, this is how it went.  
  
"Oh...oh, my head..." I whined. "What happened to me...?" "You've fainted," said a voice from behind me, "and I'm here to tell you what you must do." I turned around slowly and looked at the figure standing behind me. I couldn't make him out, because I was still woozy. Still, I listened to what he had to say. "You must go and find the other emeralds. They are still hidden away somewhere. Sparkius did not take them, because I was just in time to transport their power elsewhere. You and Tails need to go to the only place no person has ever seen before. This place is called Neo Sky Sanctuary. The first Sky Sanctuary was destroyed when an epic battle took place there." I nodded my head. I could make out his shape now. He was tall and looked like someone I knew. "Now, to get there is not at all an easy task. You must fight your way through legions of evil creatures, and then face one final test. This final test I cannot reveal to you now. You must find out for yourselves. But, it is important that you find them immediately. Sparkius is on the move with his two brothers, named Dracus and Eternia. I cannot reveal the exact location of the emeralds, but if Tails absorbs the power of Light, he will be able to guide you. As for the rest of the emeralds, carry them back to the Sacred Realm." "How do I know...that I can trust you?" I asked him. I still couldn't see him, but he was coming into focus. He was rather tall, looked brown, wore a leather jacket and had jet-black shades. Still, I couldn't see him perfectly. "You'll just have to follow your heart." he said to me, then disappeared.  
  
"Saria! Saria!" someone called to me. I felt myself regaining consciousness. I sat up, rubbing my head. It really hurt, too. "Guys, we have to find the other emeralds." I said once I was fully conscious again. "They're still out there somewhere." "What are we waiting for? Let's go!" Link said. "Hold on, Link." I said, holding him back. "I forgot to tell you. Tails and I have to do this...alone." "But...Saria, you said we have to stay together..." Link said. "But Link, we will be together, at least in spirit. You remember my favorite ocarina song, right?" "Yeah." "Here," I said, "take my ocarina for now and play my song whenever you want to talk." "Okay, but...I'll still worry about you." Tails and I set out for the Temple of Time. When we got there, I opened the Door of Time by singing the Song of Time. Pretty neat how I can do that, huh? Anyway, we went in, and sure enough, there was the Emerald of Light. It was a radiant yellow. "Wow...I feel so much power coming out of it..." Tails said in awe. Strangely, I felt nothing. "Tails, try absorbing its energy." I suggested. "What?!" he yelled. "I can't...I mean, I couldn't..." "Yes, you can, Tails!" I said, reassuring him. "You're the new Sage of Light. Somehow, I can tell. You've just got so much young energy in you. I mean, I'm quite a bit older than you'd think..." "You're...then, how old are you, Saria?" he asked me. "In reality, I'm only about fourteen, but the number of years I've been living is probably about nineteen." "So, I guess I should trust you on this one..." he said. He walked slowly toward the emerald and touched it. His head jerked back, as though he was in some kind of pain. I could tell that he was. He wasn't used to this kind of energy. I had to help him, but what could I do? "Tails, hang in there!" I called out to him. My mind raced, trying to think of some way to take away the pain. I had an idea. "Let go of it for a minute!" I said. He let go. I grabbed his hand, then touched the emerald. The power I felt was incredible, but I wasn't the one keeping it. I would act as a medium for the energy so that Tails could absorb it easily. Then I felt the pain of the energy. It was like the power was ripping me apart from the inside. It was terrible, but I didn't let go. I felt myself weakening, but then the pain stopped. The emerald disappeared. It was over. I felt the emerald's energy inside Tails. "I feel like we should go to the forest." Tails said. "Then let's go" I replied.  
  
We went to the forest and into Link's house, where we found the emerald of Spirit. Then we went to my house, where the emerald of Water was. "We need to go to Death Mountain." he said. I followed him to the very top and we found the emerald of Fire. "I...I can't get a lock on the last one..." he said. He looked strained. "I can only tell...it's...on Angel Island!" "Angel Island!" I exclaimed. "But, that's in another dimension entirely! We can't get there!" "Yes, we can." Tails said. He pulled out the Super Ring and we both grabbed it. "Use the ring's power and the Forest emerald's power to build up super speed. Run around the ring, but don't ever let go, or we're both finished. Are you ready?" "Let's do it!" We began to run. I felt pretty stupid running in a circle, but I saw Tails' reasoning soon. My feet came off the ground as I neared the speed of sound. Everything was a blur. "Just how fast are we moving, Tails?!" I shouted. "We're at about 100,000 miles per second now! Just hold on!" We kept running. Then, we began to run on the air. The ring lifted us off the ground. By my reasoning, we were at about 150,000 miles per second now. The ring began to glow blue. Then, its energy grew. I felt it in my hand. As we hit 160,000 miles per second, it got an electrical charge. I almost let go, but thought better of it. Tails and I kept running. We were almost at 180,000 miles per second now. The ring buzzed with electricity now and grew quite hot. We were approaching 185,000 miles per second now. The ring produced a kind of electromagnet for energy, gathering it into its center. We were at 185,750 miles per second now. The energy in the ring's center expanded. Tails and I finally hit 186,000 miles per second, the speed of light, and the energy exploded, sucking us into it. We fell out of a portal into a lush jungle area. "Well," Tails said, "that was sure fun. Fun for someone who likes moving the speed of light!" "Tails, is this Angel Island?" I asked him. I was amazed by the scenery and the diversity in organisms. "Yes, Saria." he said. "This is Angel Island." Chapter VIII The Shadow Emerald  
  
Tails and I made our way slowly into the depths of the jungle. I had never seen such a place before. There were loops, jumps, and even corkscrews built right into the landscape! "Keep close to me, Saria," Tails told me. "I've got a bad feeling about this." "Why?" I asked him. "I don't see anything wrong." "Exactly." he said. I was confused. "Robotnik, also known as Dr. Eggman, is always stirring up trouble around here with robots. There's nothing here, so that means something...or someone...scared them off." "Sparkius?" "I wouldn't doubt it." We walked on through the jungle, right up to the end of it. There was no way to go but down. "This leads to HydroCity," Tails said pointing down a waterfall, "and this one leads to Marble Garden." he said, pointing to another. "Then again, this one over here," he said, pointing to a cave, "leads to...Lava Reef." "Let's try Lava Reef." I suggested.  
  
Upon arriving in Lava Reef, I saw why Tails had hesitated in mentioning it. It wasn't just hot. It was blazing! "You still sure you want to come here?" he asked me. "We have to. I can sense it." We trekked our way down almost to the source of the lava. There, our path divided. "The dark path leads to where I met Sparkius the first time," Tails said, "and the other is the way to the central part of the volcano." "We're in a volcano?!" I yelled. "Didn't I mention that?" he said. I almost flipped out on him. There was no way I was going to the center of a volcano, so I chose the darker path. When we got to the end chamber, I saw that it was no longer lit. I pulled out the light potion I had been given earlier, and it lit the room. I saw what was very possibly the most disturbing sight imaginable. There, on the floor, was a gallery of...human remains. There were bodies torn apart, literally limb from limb. Some had their organs ripped out forcefully, and others had been apparently chewed up and spit back out. It was absolutely grotesque. I felt faint. I told myself not to fall down to my knees, not to touch the bodies. Tails knew I was in trouble and grabbed me under the arms. I put my hand on his shoulder for support, and we walked toward the center of the room. There, we found the emerald of Shadow. "Tails, bag it and let's get out of here..." I said. He grabbed at it, but his hands passed right through it. "What the..." Tails said, trying again. He tried to grab it about three times more, but with the same results. "How do we get this thing back then?" "Tails, this is going to sound strange, but grab my hand." I told him. "What?" he said, confused. "I...well, okay..." He grabbed my hand, and then together we made a grab for the emerald. It was solid. We pulled it out and placed it in his backpack. "Let's get out of here." I said, shivering. It was growing colder. "I'm getting a seriously negative vibe." Strangely, as we walked back outward, the cave grew continuously colder. I wondered what was going on until I heard something like a breath. "Tails," I whispered, "did you...did you hear that?" "Hear what?" he said. I grew even more afraid. Tails must have sensed it, because he held my hand softly. I felt a little better. Then I heard the noise again. I stopped and whipped my head around, but nobody was there. "I know I heard something this time..." I said. "It was like there's something...alive back there..." "Just keep walking, Saria. If there's anything there, we'll take it together." So we kept walking, but just before we emerged into the light area, I heard it again. "Tails, there's something here!" I whispered in fear. I pulled myself closer to him. I was trembling with fear now. "You're right," Tails said softly. "I can feel it. It's...evil. No...it's not...it can't be...what I think it is..." Just then, right in front of us, something dropped down. It blocked our only way of escape, and I couldn't see what it was because there was no light. I whipped out my light potion and held it up. I saw what it was. The creature was a giant dragon-like figure. I can't describe the beast accurately, but it had claws like swords, cutting through the floor easily. Its eyes literally glowed red, and eerie touch to the evil head of the beast. The rest of it I will leave to your imagination. It was a dark blue, and every time it breathed, it blew icy cold air. It wasn't too large, but it was definitely terrifying. it stood up on its back two legs and screeched a battle cry. Its blast was so powerful that I was knocked onto my back. I saw Tails fall beside me. We were both shivering from the intense cold radiating off of the dragon's body. It was coming toward us, slowly. I had an idea. "Tails," I whispered, "when it gets ready to attack, run under its legs." "It's risky," he said, "but what choice do we have?" The dragon came closer and closer, and it raised its claws to strike. Tails ran like hell under its legs. He knew what I was doing, but he let me do it anyway. The dragon's claws came down like blades of steel. I stood there, my eyes closed, concentrating. I had to get this right, or I was already dead. Just before the claws connected with me, I put up a magical barrier. The dragon was persistent, and he continuously slashed at the shield. After about a minute of attacks, I saw a crack forming. It spread farther and farther until at last my barrier gave out. It shattered and disappeared. The dragon threw one more slash, and it caught me in my side. "Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!" The pain was incredible. I fell to my knees. I was bleeding badly from the wound. Tails ran over to help me. Even though I was hurt, we ran past the dragon and down the other passage. We found an alcove and Tails pulled out the ring. I was in so much pain, and the world was spinning. "Tails...help...me..." I managed to whisper out. "I know, I'm trying to figure out what to do! Alright, just grab the ring. I'll take care of everything else." I took the ring in my hand, even though I couldn't see it very well. Tails began some kind of meditation, and I started to feel a little better. My wound healed quickly, and the world came back into focus. "Thanks, Tails, now let's get rid of that thing!" We ran down the passage to the center of the volcano, and emerged into an area with a single pool of lava in the middle. I figured that this was a great place to fight it. "Tails, we need to fly to beat this thing, but I don't want you tiring out over the lava. So I've got one last idea. If we blow it, though, Angel Island is finished, and so are we." "Do we really have another choice?" Tails asked sarcastically. "No, we don't. Tails, give me your hand again." He did. "Now, concentrate on me." "What?" he said, stunned. "Just do it!" I yelled at him. He closed his eyes and concentrated. I closed mine and concentrated on him. I knew, somehow, that this would help. I felt the ground slip away from under my feet. We began to float upward. I felt Tails' spirit almost fuse with mine, like they were meant to be one. We both opened our eyes at the same time. My hair was rainbow again, and Tails was shining. The pissed off birds were back, and they immediately went for the dragon, trying to distract him while we tested our abilities. "As long as we don't let go," I said, "we'll stay like this." "I think we should be able to fly now," Tails said, wondering. "Let's give it a shot!" We threw ourselves forward into a spear position and took off like jets. We shot around the room like remote-control bullets. We practiced a few sharp turns and such, but then the dragon slashed out the birds. He came straight for us. We dodged, and his claws dug deep into the rock. I flinched when I saw the severity of his attacks. He pulled his claws out, turned, and slashed at us. We tried to get away, but we were just a split second too late. His claws caught my arm near the shoulder. I cried out in pain. "Saria, are you alright?" Tails asked. "Yeah," I replied, "I'm fine. It's not too deep...incoming!" We dodged again, and he came close to hitting the lava. He seemed almost afraid of hitting it. I got a devious idea. "Tails, we have to dive down near the lava," I said. "It'll be hot, but it's for our own good." "But..." "Just do it, damn it!" We did it. We had to be no more than fifteen feet from the bubbling pool, and as I expected, the dragon dove towards us. At the last possible second, we flew off to the side. The dragon flew directly into the lava. It instantly sprang back up and out of it, but it couldn't escape. We were on solid ground now, and the dragon writhed in the lava. Its skin melted slowly off. It was almost painful to watch. It jumped repeatedly, trying to escape, but to no avail. It jumped lower and lower, its skin being ripped away until it was no more than a slightly bouncing bunch of bones. Surprisingly, it was still alive. It turned its head toward us and opened its mouth wide. "Tails, let's get moving!" I yelled. "I'm with you!" he shouted back. We both ran for the tunnel. We still held hands. We were about halfway out of the volcano when I heard the dragon, though he was about half a mile away, fire a gigantic blast of energy. I turned my head, and it was coming fast, a black, flaming jet of death. "Tails, get the ring ready!" He pulled out the ring and we both took hold of that. We were running even faster now. But, when we hit light speed, nothing happened. "What gives?!" I yelled to Tails. "I don't know, but we're going to have to fly our way home!" "What, through space?!" "Yep. When I say so, jump as high as you can." We were at about 200,000 miles per second now. "Wait...wait...now!" We jumped. We flew, way past the speed of light, out into space. Strangely, I could still breathe. I looked back and say the black beam expand. It covered the whole of Angel Island and exploded. Angel Island was instantly obliterated. Tails and I, flying freely through space now, reached about 3,000,000 miles per second.  
  
A little later, we hit the edge of the dimension barrier at a top speed of almost 25,000,000 miles per second. I felt myself being almost torn in two, like half of me wanted to stay in the other dimension. But, again my will power pulled through, and Tails and I broke through the barrier and landed in Hyrule again, right where we had left our friends. Chapter IX The Second Trial  
  
We returned to Hyrule and met Link, Ruto, Zelda, Sonic, and Knuckles. I realized that we had been gone only a half an hour. "Wow," I said to everyone, "traveling at light speed really makes for a quick road trip!" "Did you find them all?" Sonic asked us. I assumed he meant the emeralds. "Sure did, Sonic!" Tails said, pulling them all out. Everyone was amazed. "Hey, Tails," Sonic said, "there are only four emeralds here...I know Saria's got one, and so does Link, but...where's the emerald of Light?" "Sonic, there are so many things nobody knows about me," Tails said. "I always knew that one day I would get to be a hero, not just a sidekick like usual. Now, I think it's my turn." Sonic just stared at him. "You're not saying...You're kidding!" "He's not," I said. Sonic was stunned. "And if I'm right," I continued, "you, Sonic, need to take this one." I handed him the emerald of Spirit. It was like he had absorbed power before, the way he handled it. It took him only a few seconds, then it was gone. He absorbed the energy skillfully, without pain. I handed the emerald of Water to Ruto, and Fire to Knuckles. They both absorbed them, although each one with some difficulty. Now there was one left: the emerald of Shadow. "We've got to find the Shadow Sage now..." said Zelda. "That would be Impa, if she's still alive." We went to Kakariko and found Impa. She was as fit as ever, now working to build affordable houses. She did everything with her hands. "Hello, young ones. What can I do for you?" she asked us. "Impa, you need to absorb the power of the Shadow emerald, because you're the Shadow Sage. Please, for the benefit of the universe." She took the emerald in her hands and absorbed the power. Then, she did something unexpected. She touched my head and transferred the power to me. "I cannot come with you," she said, "so I give you my abilities and responsibilities of Shadow Sage." I stood speechless for a moment, then left with the group. I felt more powerful than ever. I now controlled 2/7 of all nature, and our little group controlled 13/14. The last missing link was the Master Emerald. We went to Hidden Palace, and Zelda used her mental powers to levitate the Master Emerald down to her. She touched it with one finger, and I could tell it was a painful absorption. Even that one finger was channeling so much energy to Zelda that she could hardly bear it. I could tell she was in pain, trying to get it over with, when she put both hands on the emerald. She fell to her knees, then picked herself up again. I was about to run to her side, but Knuckles stopped me. "No," he said, "she must do this alone." I felt Zelda's life force growing, but her conscious spirit was fading quickly from the pain. The emerald's power dropped as its energy was channeled out of it, but Zelda wanted it to end. She jumped on top of it, putting her hands, feet, and knees on the emerald. She was in an insufferable amount of pain. She was fading quickly, ready to faint, wanting to die rather than endure the pain. She hung in there, but she was about to literally die because of the pain. Then, it was over. The emerald disappeared, and Zelda fell to the ground unconscious. We all rushed over to her. She was fine, but she would be out for a while. We carried her back to the Kokiri Forest.  
  
The next morning, when Zelda felt better, we set out to find Sparkius, Dracus, and Eternia. We headed for Hyrule Field. As I thought, they were there, releasing the final Dark Sage, Death. I knew what to do. Al I did was toss a cross at him and he disintegrated instantly. It was the most pathetic thing I had ever seen. But, now the demon shadows took their true forms. All three of them took the figures of dragons, the most powerful of all creatures, real and mythical. But, these dragons could think like sentient beings. They knew what they were doing. And Sparkius remained as he was, since he alone could not break the spell placed on him. So, they lined up in this order, from our view. First, on the left, was Dracus, a jet-black dragon with red, blazing eyes, and huge wings spanning twice his length, which was not at all short. On the right was Eternia, a blood-red dragon with yellow, glowing eyes. He was much smaller than the other, but still sizeable, and his wings were in proportion. Lastly, in the middle, was Sparkius. He had both hands at his side. Then, Dracus spoke. "Master, we await our commands!" he said, obviously talking to Sparkius. Eternia, still silent, nodded in approval. Sparkius looked at his underlings, making sure they were ready. They took up attack poses. Then, as though his motions controlled the two beasts, he thrust out his hand, palm outward, signaling the attack. The dragons flew at us with horrifying speed. We all hit the deck. When we got up, we saw them coming at us again, this time their claws in the ground, slicing through it. We all knew there was no way to escape, so Zelda put her hands upward, and a barrier covered us. The dragons hit it and bounced off. Zelda felt the blow, and was knocked back. She kept her hands up, but the barrier flickered. We needed a plan, and fast. "Sonic, what other powers do the emeralds have?" I asked him. "Well, let's see..." he said. "They can give super speed, flight, and invulnerability if they're all gathered together..." "Invulnerability?!" I shouted. "Yeah, but it drains a lot of energy." "Who cares?! That's the only way we're going to beat these guys! Everyone, form a ring around Zelda!" We all grabbed hands in this order: Knuckles, Sonic, Tails, me, Ruto, and then Link, and back to Knuckles again. Impa would have been between Ruto and Link, but she wasn't there. We all focused our energies on Zelda, but they seemed to reflect off of her. "What?" Knuckles said, in shock. "She should be able to absorb our energy if she is the Master Sage...but, if she isn't..." Knuckles gave me a strange, confused look. "Are you kidding?" I said. "I'm not the Master Sage!" "You must be." Tails said. "You've already absorbed two powers...maybe you can absorb the others! Zelda! Keep up the barrier!" "I'll...try to...hurry up though..." Everyone closed their eyes and focused their energy on me. I felt such a force running through my blood! It was absolutely astounding. Then, I felt something change. I felt my spirit merging with everyone else's. Then, I felt everyone merging into one powerful physical form. Everyone merged into one being. I opened my eyes, and we were above the ground. We had...wings? We had claws too. "What...what just...happened?" Tails stuttered, stunned. "I don't know..." Sonic said. "This is so sweet!" Link said. "Wow!" exclaimed Ruto. "What's going on?" Zelda asked. "This is...amazing..." said Knuckles. "We've merged and transformed into the legendary Dragon of Light!" We were all speechless. I looked down at our new figure. We were a 200-foot long dragon, pure white, and had claws made literally of steel. Our rainbow-colored wings spanned at least three times our length, ending in sharp points. We had two tails, which I assumed was from Tails, each one tipped with a spike. In addition, our face was like a giant spear on the end. But then, Sparkius and his brothers merged as well. They combined to form a jet-black duplicate of ourselves, but with one tail. Their eyes glowed red. Their wings spanned the same length as ours, but were colored red. "Behold! I am now Death Dragon! Tremble before me!" "Tremble?" I called out. "I think not! Get Hell bent! I then realized that I was in control of the new figure. I gave one mighty flap of our wings, and I blew him back a few feet. He did the same, but repeatedly, and I did the best I could to withstand the force. I flapped and flapped our wings as hard as I could, and I found it not as hard as I thought. I got an idea, but I would need help from everyone. Hey, everybody! We're in the same body, but our minds are still separate! I thought. Wow, Saria, that's so cool! Tails thought back to me. I'll need everyone's help to pull this off, I thought, so focus everything on the dragon's mouth! I felt energy, pure, powerful energy, rushing to the dragon's, no, my mouth. It grew and grew. I opened my mouth and prepared to release the energy. I took aim at Death Dragon, who looked afraid, and fired. The beam fired from my mouth was an intense blend of the rainbow. It was beautifully powerful, and it was on a collision course with Death Dragon. He had no time to move, so he put up his arm as a shield. He was only blown back by the attack, but I hadn't charged the beam to full power, either. He was in for a great surprise. Still, his arm was wounded quite badly. "You will pay for that, girl!" he screamed out to me. "Oh, really?" I said back. "Even if I go down, these others here will take control!" "What are you saying?" "I'm saying that friendship will overcome your controlling power!" "You are wrong. Teamwork is worth nothing on the battlefield of the supernatural! You must always remain in control as I am! I use the power of the other two as my own, as one spirit. That makes me far superior to you!" "Our spirits may not be united," I said, "but our hearts are!" I charged at the opposing force with blinding speed. They dodged, but I had anticipated that. I made a hairpin turn, using my wing as a pivot point on the ground. I attacked him again, and he tried to dodge. But, I felt my wing slice at the enemy's chest. He screamed in pain, even though I had only scratched the surface. "The power of light...inside me! It burns!" I made another turn, but the dragon shot a black fireball at me. It caught my wing, but my wing didn't burn. I did feel a powerful pain, though, and I knew that darkness had the same effect on me as light did on him. The others felt pain as well. I felt Tails holding back a yell of pain, and Link became enraged. I blasted rapid-fire at Death Dragon with shining yellow fireballs. Only three out of twenty connected, but he was damaged badly. He screeched out in pain, like nails on a blackboard. I fired two more at his eyes, and they both hit. His eyes spurted black blood over the land, like an oil well. I took advantage of his temporary blindness, because dragons have regenerative eyes, and we charged up a beam to full power. I loosed the beam on him. It moved the speed of light, and it was not rainbow, but pure white this time. It connected with Death Dragon...and it kept going. I missed his cold heart by only an inch, if that. It left a gaping hole in his chest, which he could not heal. He bled all over the land until he had no blood left, but he still lived. "See, I have no life left in me, yet I live on! See the power of control!" he said. "You still have much to learn," I said, "but for now...I think we'll skip right to the final lesson!" We charged another full-power beam, but this time I didn't fire it. I closed my eyes. I started flashing every possible color, more rapidly, until I was going through fifty colors a second. The energy kept charging, and we all put our hearts into it. I opened my eyes, and it was then that I released the energy stored up. I fired what I now know to be the Rainbow Splasher. It came from my skin, blasting over Hyrule, hitting everything in sight. I saw one land on Death Dragon, and he writhed in pain. Another hit. And another three. His skin now began to burn. He was paralyzed by the power. I knew what we had to do now. "Everyone, concentrate on your real selves! We have to become human again!" We all changed back to our human forms, now holding hands again. We lined ourselves up. I was in front, then Link and Ruto, then Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. Zelda was in the back. The dragon was charging his ultimate attack, which could destroy a world in one blast. "Everyone throw all your life force at me at once! Don't argue, just trust me!" They all channeled their energy to me at the same time. I felt such force from it that I nearly couldn't control it. I felt someone holding back. It was Tails. I couldn't hold the power much longer. "Tails, do it! Now!" He hesitated a moment, then threw his energy to me as well. It was so intensely powerful that I had to pull it off now. The dragon was about to fire. "Everyone, put your hands out in front of you! Aim beams towards me!" They did it. I felt pain from the blasts, but I absorbed all of the energy. I kept my hands at my side until they stopped. Then, I thrust my hand out, aiming at the dragon's heart. I unleashed the power of nature itself in one final effort to save the universe. I felt the energy leave my body through my hand in a beam. It blasted toward the heart of the beast, and connected. Just before the dragon fired, it dropped dead and disintegrated. I fell to my knees from the intense effort I used to kill the dragon. Everyone rushed to my side. "Saria, you look pale," Tails said. "You need help right away!" What they didn't see was that from the remains walked Sparkius, now in his true dragon form. He was not a large dragon, but he was also jet-black with red eyes. He did something quite unexpected. He sprinkled a strange powder on me, and I was healed, my life force restored. "I feel...better!" I said. But, Sparkius wasn't done yet. "Saria," he said, "you've grown powerful beyond your imagination. You now control all of nature itself, but you won't be able to do this by yourself. There is yet one more trial for you to face. You will find out what it is when the time is right. Link, Zelda, Saria, Tails, Knuckles, Sonic, Ruto...I bid you all farewell!" and with that, he flew off.  
  
So I think to myself, what does this guy want with us? I know that he's evil, but still, he doesn't seem to be against us. Why? There are so many questions still lying unanswered. But, I mostly wonder, what am I? And who am I to toy with nature? Am I even remotely human? And why could I turn into a dragon? I realized that there were still a lot of cards on the table. And I also realized that Sparkius was now the dealer... 


End file.
